{"683397":{"#nid":"683397","#data":{"type":"news","title":"New \u201cMegaflash\u201d Lightning Record Set; Could Provide Severe Storm Insights","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA lightning flash that extended from near Dallas, Texas, to Kansas City, Missouri, now holds the record for the longest lightning discharge ever recorded. Known as a \u201cmegaflash,\u201d the lightning discharge spanned some 515 miles (829 kilometers) and lasted 7.39 seconds. It included over a hundred individual cloud-to-ground strikes that were part of a large storm system extending from Minnesota to Texas.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMost lightning flashes are much shorter \u2013 10 miles or less \u2013 but discharges that travel hundreds of miles occur frequently enough to be detected from space and are often seen in the Great Plains area of the United States. Beyond the inherent interest in their unusual length and duration, meteorologists are studying these megaflashes to learn more about the mysteries of lightning, to develop new approaches for predicting the risk of severe storms \u2013 and to provide public warning of lightning bolts that may occur unexpectedly long after the storm front spawning them has passed.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe new record megaflash was identified in data from a storm that occurred in October 2017. The flash produced more than 116 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes from a lengthy and complex series of jagged paths woven through the clouds. It was not found earlier because of how the data was originally processed, but was finally identified when the satellite data was re-analyzed in 2024.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gtri.gatech.edu\/newsroom\/new-megaflash-lightning-record-set-could-provide-severe-storm-insights\u0022\u003ERead more in the GTRI newsroom\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA lightning flash that extended from near Dallas, Texas to Kansas City, Mo., now holds the record for the longest lightning discharge ever recorded. Known as a \u201cmegaflash,\u201d the lightning discharge spanned some 515 miles (829 kilometers) and lasted 7.39 seconds.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers have identified a record-long lightning \u0022megaflash\u0022 that extended for 515 miles."}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2025-07-31 13:36:49","changed_gmt":"2025-07-31 20:27:27","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-07-31T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-07-31T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677538":{"id":"677538","type":"image","title":"Researcher Michael Peterson with a visualization of the record lightning flash","body":"\u003Cp\u003ESenior Research Scientist Michael Peterson is shown in the Operations Center of the Georgia Tech Research Institute\u2019s Severe Storms Research Center. Shown behind him is a visualization of the longest recorded lightning flash. (Image: Sean McNeil, GTRI)\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1753968375","gmt_created":"2025-07-31 13:26:15","changed":"1753968682","gmt_changed":"2025-07-31 13:31:22","alt":"Researcher Michael Peterson and visualization of megaflash lightning.","file":{"fid":"261447","name":"michael-peterson-lightning_07-cropped.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/31\/michael-peterson-lightning_07-cropped.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/07\/31\/michael-peterson-lightning_07-cropped.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2186226,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/07\/31\/michael-peterson-lightning_07-cropped.jpg?itok=FkT92ZJw"}}},"media_ids":["677538"],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193653","name":"Georgia Tech Research Institute"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71911","name":"Earth and Environment"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003Egtri.media@gtri.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}